1 Corinthians 1:18-31

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:18-31, NIV

Orthodox Christianity holds to the belief in God’s omnipotence, that God is all powerful. As the creator of the universe, He possesses power beyond anything we can comprehend. However, His omnipotence is not simply the ability to do anything, there are numerous examples of things God cannot do, like lie (Hebrews 6:18) or tempt someone to sin (James 1:13). 

So what then is God’s power? What does it look like? According to Paul in the passage above, it looks foolish to us. It looks like weakness.

When we think of what looks like power to us today, we typically think of someone with the ability to do as they please. Someone with the resources to impose their will on the world. Many “powerful” countries have a strong military and law enforcement to ensure that what they say is enforced. 

But is this God’s power we see displayed in the Bible? Certainly there are instances where God shows a divine power to destroy, such as with Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19). But what is the ultimate power by which God redeems humanity? 

It is not by sheer might of ability to do as He pleases, but by emptying Himself for us that God redeems humanity. Jesus Christ, as a member of the Triune Godhead, empties Himself and takes on human flesh to join us in our reality (John 1:14, Phil 2:6-8). Not only does He put aside His divine rights to join us as a human, but He lives a quiet and humble life. He does not come to us as many earthly kings do with riches and “power”, but in love and humility. He lived a life in poverty, He experienced life as a refugee, His ethnic group was under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. This appears to the world as foolishness and weakness, not power.

Alister E. McGrath writes, “In an age which has become increasingly suspicious of the idea of ‘power,’ it is perhaps refreshing to be reminded that talk about ‘God almighty’ does not necessarily imply that God is a tyrant, but that God chooses to stand alongside people in their powerlessness…”¹

God’s power is seen in His great love for humanity, that He would choose to join us in our weakness and suffer alongside us. 

This has many implications as to how we love our neighbors. We might think we have great ideas of how to love and help others, but are our ideas aligned with the fruit of the Spirit? (Gal 5:22-23) Does our activity come out of an overflow of God’s love for us or does it come from our desire to be important or to earn the love of others?

God calls us to take up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23), and in doing so, we follow His example of pouring out ourselves in order to bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2). This means that our love may look foolish to a world that may applaud philanthropy and charity, but look on with bewilderment at someone who would give up their personal wealth and comfort to not only help others around them, but to join them in their suffering and pain. But this is the love God has for us and the love we are called to enter into and embody to a lost world.

This month, as we enter into a season of Lent, consider how God is calling you to embody this love to your neighbors. What things are you doing or not doing that God is calling you to repent of? What ways of loving a neighbor seem rather foolish to you, but are modeled in Christ’s example of self-sacrifice? And how is God renewing your spirit this season to love others more fully?

¹Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc, 1994), 261.